Tricks?

Just thought Id start a thread, on any tricks you may have, not necessarily cheating of under handed, but in expected... as I was watching the Chang under handed serve.. and it got me to thinking about the out of the ordinary.. such as the if you hit the other player the point is yours etc etc....

I have a great cheap trick for club players in pick up matches. Someone pulled it on me and it worked!!! (many years ago) If the other guy is serving and has match point, have your arms at your side and stare at your opponent as if you wanted to kill him. seriously
When a guy did this to me I actually had to ask him if he was ready. he just nodded his head. Every other serve in the match, he was in the ready position on his toes, now all of a sudden he is staring at me motionless like a tree and nowhere near in a ready position as I am getting ready to perform this loose fluid continuos serve for the match
...he looks like he wants to fight an escrima death battle. I still won the match but I lost that point. The quick psyche job, worked on me for one point though...soemone should do a thread on racquet tricks. Cheap tricks like this are for club players, (no offense) tricks are for kids.

Lately, I've started standing in *extremely* close to receive a second serve in singles. I wait until the server has been struggling with the serve or it is a huge point. If she makes the serve, I try to half-volley it. Sometimes it winds up as a drop shot, sometimes it's just a decent angle. And sometimes it winds up giving me a double fault.

It doesn't work at all in doubles. My control isn't good enough to guarantee I won't pop it up to the net person.

Lately, I've started standing in *extremely* close to receive a second serve in singles. I wait until the server has been struggling with the serve or it is a huge point. If she makes the serve, I try to half-volley it. Sometimes it winds up as a drop shot, sometimes it's just a decent angle. And sometimes it winds up giving me a double fault.

It doesn't work at all in doubles. My control isn't good enough to guarantee I won't pop it up to the net person.

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I am not suprised that you can get some DFs in singles. There are a lot of crafty Mental Game artists in doubles, especially Senior doubles. Most serious doubles players have run into them and have worked out a way to compensate for them.

Here's a good one: Had a guy who used to, whenever he had a smash at (or near) the net, would wind up like he's gonna hit for the fences (forcing me to pick a side or at least retreat behind the baseline) then deliberately miss the ball, only to dink the ball off the back of his racket as he brought it back up. Had me on my heels every time.

Here's a good one: Had a guy who used to, whenever he had a smash at (or near) the net, would wind up like he's gonna hit for the fences (forcing me to pick a side or at least retreat behind the baseline) then deliberately miss the ball, only to dink the ball off the back of his racket as he brought it back up. Had me on my heels every time.

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What the --?

He would deliberately whiff his overhead and then do a dink with the back of his racket?

I couldn't pull that off if a million dollars were riding on it. I would either frame the overhead, or my "dink" would go about 20 feet into the air.

--Underhanded slice serve. He can fake a underhand swing to lure the opponent to run up to the service line and then swiftly resort back to his flat first serve to catch the opponent off guard.
--When returning a serve, he sprints to the service line, and when the opponent is right about to hit his serve, he jumps back to the baseline.
--Moonball wars.
--Psychological warfare: loud screaming and slamming shots as hard as he can, then resorting to slicing/lobbing in order to regain his energy to blast a winner.

Here's a good one: Had a guy who used to, whenever he had a smash at (or near) the net, would wind up like he's gonna hit for the fences (forcing me to pick a side or at least retreat behind the baseline) then deliberately miss the ball, only to dink the ball off the back of his racket as he brought it back up. Had me on my heels every time.

Lately, I've started standing in *extremely* close to receive a second serve in singles. I wait until the server has been struggling with the serve or it is a huge point. If she makes the serve, I try to half-volley it. Sometimes it winds up as a drop shot, sometimes it's just a decent angle. And sometimes it winds up giving me a double fault.

It doesn't work at all in doubles. My control isn't good enough to guarantee I won't pop it up to the net person.

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Well. I do this whenever I actually play someone only I'm at the service line for all serves (not very many fast servers around here <shrugs>). It doesn't seem to affect anyone I play, not that I would expect it to. I'm simply playing the bounce.

the sprinting up one is illegal. if a tournie ref saw it he would give you a warning or a point penalty. you can not run like that to try and distract your opponent.

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The Code:

"34. Body movement. A player may feint with the body while the ball is in
play. A player may change position at any time, including while the server is
tossing the ball. Any other movement or any sound that is made solely to distract an opponent, including, but not limited to, waving the arms or racket or stamping the feet, is not allowed."

I'm not sure what exactly this returner is doing, but if he is sprinting up in the court, taking a ready position, then backpedaling during the toss then I don't see why this would be illegal.

Here's a good one: Had a guy who used to, whenever he had a smash at (or near) the net, would wind up like he's gonna hit for the fences (forcing me to pick a side or at least retreat behind the baseline) then deliberately miss the ball, only to dink the ball off the back of his racket as he brought it back up. Had me on my heels every time.

"34. Body movement. A player may feint with the body while the ball is in
play. A player may change position at any time, including while the server is
tossing the ball. Any other movement or any sound that is made solely to distract an opponent, including, but not limited to, waving the arms or racket or stamping the feet, is not allowed."

I'm not sure what exactly this returner is doing, but if he is sprinting up in the court, taking a ready position, then backpedaling during the toss then I don't see why this would be illegal.

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Yeah he's just running up and then back. No arm movement or racket smashing or noises made.
So I take it that it's legal?

Lately, I've started standing in *extremely* close to receive a second serve in singles. I wait until the server has been struggling with the serve or it is a huge point. If she makes the serve, I try to half-volley it. Sometimes it winds up as a drop shot, sometimes it's just a decent angle. And sometimes it winds up giving me a double fault.

It doesn't work at all in doubles. My control isn't good enough to guarantee I won't pop it up to the net person.

I played this shorter guy in a league match one time. He was hitting all slow spin serves in the warm up. On the first serve of the match he served a ball in the 120s that knocked the racket out of my hand. Didn't see that one coming at all!

its a movement that is used to distract your opponent. if while im tossing he is running up then jumping back he is purposely distracting me. this is why the code sucks. it leaves to vague a response.

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I guess so. But he doesn't jump. He just stands close to the baseline, and runs back really fast as the opponent tosses the ball.
Many players jump around to keep their feet moving in preparation for a service return. That's not illegal either.

its a movement that is used to distract your opponent. if while im tossing he is running up then jumping back he is purposely distracting me. this is why the code sucks. it leaves to vague a response.

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I think it's legal. The fact that you find it distracting does not mean it doesn't serve another purpose. If his purpose is to make it so that you don't know where he is standing (so you can't decide where to aim), then that's OK. The Code says he can change position, after all.

Can't one of you (Nick and Tony) just murder the other so I don't have to keep hearing about avatar stealing?

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Sorry for the boredom factor but tony cannot be dirrectly emailed, so I am trying to catch his attention in the forums. Its not the individualistic thing about him using my avatar, maybe he didnt even realise this is bad ettiquette, its more the fact that sometimes when looking through the posts it catches my eye thinking its one of mine. So no issue but I would appreciate it if tonyg changed his avatar please

During a typical rally with deep heavy shots, (instead of hitting a drop shot) you can take a normal backswing and hit the ball much lighter and flatter and the ball dies/falls short. For some reason this catches opponents off-guard a lot and usually causing them give an unbalanced or bad reply. Some guy did this to me a bunch years ago and I thought he was mishitting the ball. He was doing it on purpose. It's like a fake mis-hit. Can mess up a rhythm sometimes, that's for sure.

Ok heres one, when the shot is REALLY close, like on the out side edge of the line(where it could be called out) Emphatically Yell out like you won the point, you know like "YEAH!!!! caught the edge Baby!!! YESSSSS.." this will mentally sway the opponenent subconsiously to think..."um ok maybe it did"

I don't do much trickeration, but I will move my position from where the opponent looks at me to serve from where he makes contact. Maybe start left, go right..or forward back..etc. I do this based on their serves once I figure them out.

the fake-out drop shot can make someone look pretty foolish on the court. You line up to hit a drop shot of an easy set up and when you see your opponent running in just push it deep down the line. The opponent just ends up either running straight past it or making an awkward lunge.... both looking very silly. Coria used to do this alot

Sorry for the boredom factor but tony cannot be dirrectly emailed, so I am trying to catch his attention in the forums. Its not the individualistic thing about him using my avatar, maybe he didnt even realise this is bad ettiquette, its more the fact that sometimes when looking through the posts it catches my eye thinking its one of mine. So no issue but I would appreciate it if tonyg changed his avatar please

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I wished this happened during my college days. I surely would have convinced 10 other posters to change their avatar to this and ask nick what he was upset about.

Ok heres one, when the shot is REALLY close, like on the out side edge of the line(where it could be called out) Emphatically Yell out like you won the point, you know like "YEAH!!!! caught the edge Baby!!! YESSSSS.." this will mentally sway the opponenent subconsiously to think..."um ok maybe it did"

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Uh? We're not talking about swaying line calls! If it's in or out, I call it in or out and don't try to persuade or cheat. If you're talking about questioning your opponent's call of your shot........... well that's a different story.